Virgin Galactic headed into space for the first time

"Today, for the first time in history, a crewed spaceship, built to carry private passengers, reached space", Branson said earlier in a statement.

During a test flight Thursday morning in Mojave, Calif., a pair of pilots flying the company's SpaceShipTwo spacecraft hit an altitude of 51.4 miles.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and a star-studded list of supporters were on the ground cheering on the mission throughout the daring flight.

SpaceShipTwo, named the VSS Unity, hitched a ride on Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo aircraft before separating and taking off under its own power. Virgin's pilots are aiming to soar 50 miles into the sky - the U.S. military and NASA's definition of the edge of space and high enough to earn commercial astronaut wings by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

The new series of tests opens on 13 December, with a goal of further testing the spaceplane's handling and temperature regulation at speeds beyond the sound barrier, and from their performance figure out the ideal moment to stop accelerating and use existing momentum to continue the flight.

The company received an abundance of criticism focused on whether the danger of space tourism made the rewards worthwhile, but after following recommendations set forth by the National Transportation Safety Board's report on the incident along with further design and safety enhancements, they forged ahead to make today's event a reality.

Virgin's first flight date had been pushed back multiple times, following a test flight accident that killed a co-pilot in 2014. "That's 2.9 times the speed of sound".

Just after 11 a.m. ET, SpaceShipTwo had its wheels down, back in the Mojave, safely ending a successful test flight.

VSS Unity the Virgin Galactic space craft is hoped to be piloted into space for the first time on Thursday

Once the flight reached 30,000 feet, Virgin Galactic pilots performed a series of cabin checks. On Wednesday, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said that's the standard used by the U.S. Air Force and other U.S. agencies.

Reaching the edge of space represents a major milestone for Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. "We see this as an envelope-expansion flight, but not expanding the envelope all the way to the outer ends", Whitesides said. He wouldn't estimate when commercial passenger trips might begin.

Virgin Galactic has not yet said when it plans on beginning its first passenger flights.

More than 600 people have committed up to $250,000 United States for rides in the six-passenger rocket, which is about the size of an executive jet.

Branson said he has invested almost US$1 billion of his own money into the venture.

Branson isn't alone in the space tourism business: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is planning to take space tourists on suborbital trips, using the more traditional method of a capsule atop a rocket that blasts off from a launch pad.

Passengers will float in zero-gravity for several minutes, before coming back to Earth.

Ms Rouhselang, who was a manager of the Mishawaka High School football team, was last seen at her home around 11:00pm on Saturday. The 16-year-old accused of killing her, Aaron Trejo, was on the school's football team, according to the Associated Press .

In a statement released after the vote, Evers said he hopes Republicans will be more collaborative after he takes office. What was happening, the speaker said, was "not just an effort to suppress votes but an attempt to negate an election".

Butina, jailed since her arrest in July, had mounted an aggressive defence and tried to have the charges against her tossed. Butina appeared in court Thursday wearing a green jail uniform, her red hair in a long braid running down her back.

The top five list includes "supermarkets near me", "gas stations near me", "cashpoint near me", and "car dealers near me". If you want to check out the other U.S. search trends of 2018, you can do so here.

Jogi, a former Congressman, floated his own Janta Congress Chhattisgarh party and contested this election on his own. In Rajasthan the Congress Party was headed for victory in 103 of the 190 seats contested, against 71 for the BJP.

Market participants are hopeful that the new governor will be more communicative and sympathetic to their concerns. So, there are several areas which central bank has to be dealing with and so we will focus on those areas.

Trump said while "my people" have spoken with China about the case, he has yet to discuss it with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Meng was released on $7.4 million bail on Tuesday, after being detained in Vancouver since December 1.

Conservative MPs briefed that May had told them she did not intend to lead the party in the next general election due in 2022. The backstop has been opposed by unionists over fears it could split Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

The Conservatives had to build a "country that works for everyone" and deliver "the Brexit people voted for". Failure to reach this figure would trigger a leadership contest in which she could not stand.

And that proposed gas tax was indeed what first prompted the "yellow vest" demonstrations across France , starting on November 17. Offshoot movements have emerged elsewhere, and yellow-vest protests were held Saturday in Belgium and the Netherlands.

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